character, Celia, to accept. She, at the psychiatrist's urging, sets out upon the path to sainthood, embracing a life of greater honesty and salvation that leads her to become a Christian mystic fated to endure martyrdom on the fictional Eastern island of Kinkanja. Following Celia's consultation with the 'psychiatrist', it is revealed that the characters Reilly, Julia and Alex are not, in fact, humans but angelic beings dedicated to the 'transhumanising' of the human soul: two paths lie open to humans: the first being the way of companionable self-deception ('the hearth') embraced by the vast majority - as epitomised in the relationship between Edward and Lavinia, and the second that of the saint, embraced by a gifted — or burdened — few. Two years later, Edward and Lavinia, now better adjusted, host another cocktail party, at which they are told by Alex of Celia's martyrdom, for which they confess feeling a measure of guilt at what they consider the tragic waste of her life, but which Reilly considers a triumph. It is further hinted that Peter Quilpe is another of the rare individuals destined, like Celia, to follow the arduous but fulfilling path to sainthood/enlightenment. Characters Edward Chamberlayne Lavinia Chamberlayne Celia Coplestone, with whom Edward has had an affair Peter Quilpe, who yearns for Celia Julia Shuttlethwaite Alexander MacColgie Gibbs An Unidentified Guest, later identified as Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly A Nurse-Secretary (secretary to Sir Henry) Productions After its debut at the Edinburgh Festival in 1949 with Alec Guinness in the role of the unidentified guest, produced by Henry Sherek and directed by E. Martin Browne, The Cocktail Party premiered on Broadway on 21 January 1950 at the Henry Miller's Theatre and ran for 409 performances. Produced by Gilbert Miller and directed by E. Martin Browne, the production starred Guinness as the mysterious stranger. It received the 1950 Tony Award for Best Play. The play also ran in London with Rex Harrison as the unidentified guest. A revival opened on 7 October 1968 at the Lyceum Theatre and ran for 44 performances. The Chamberlaynes were played by Brian Bedford and Frances Sternhagen, with Sydney Walker as the mysterious stranger. Guinness returned to the role of the unidentified guest at the Chichester Festival Theatre under his own direction in 1968, taking the production to London later in the year. In the spring of 2010, the New York-based Off-Broadway company The Actors Company